York business hopes local ties will set their medical marijuana application apart

by BRANDI PROCTOR

York business hopes local ties will set their medical marijuana application apart

YORK, Pa. —

As Monday's deadline for applications for medical marijuana dispensaries comes to a close, some local investors have their ducks in a row and their fingers crossed.

The application has been sent off, now the owners of one local company anxiously wait to hear if their application is a go.

Epilepsy and pain management are just a couple of the ailments that Lynford King hopes to help ease the symptoms of, if the medical marijuana growers application for Five Leaf Remedies is approved by the state. The company is made up of 19 local investors.

They say they really want to give back to the community. They are all York residents.

The group has plans to spend $2.5-million to renovate a warehouse on Poplar Street in York to use as a growing and processing facility.

They'd have three dispensaries: York, Dauphin and Cumberland counties.

With just a dozen permits available in the state and two in our region, competition is thick.

Their Vice President of Communications, Christina Kauffman says the buzz is that about 900 applications are being submitted. If their application is approved, they hope to be up and running by next year. For one local mother, that relief cant come fast enough.

Louann Speece's daughter suffers from epilepsy and chronic seizures. She's been fighting for three years and says medical marijuana is the only thing that gives her daughter relief. Many other parents of special needs kids are also anxiously waiting for the dispensaries to open.

Lynford King says some of them are afraid to say a lot about it, "I have customers tell me their children have gone from 25 seizures a day to two."

If Five Leaf Remedies gets the green light, the pharmacist known as the "Compounding King", would be able to tweak the medical marijuana to suit individual needs by extracting oil out of the plant.

He hopes to be able to help people see the light at the end of the tunnel. Lynford says, "I have people who come in here and say, the doctor says it's not a whole lot they can do for me. To the contrary, if you can dream it, we can make it!"

Five Leaf Remedies says they're hoping their local ties, and commitment to the community will set them apart from the other applicants. Christina Kauffman says, "We actually really want to do this right. Having a lot of local involvement, being active in community and educating people, shattering that stigma that's been around for a long time."

Five Leaf Remedies has zoning approval from York City. If approved by the state, they say they will pull their permits and be up and running in 6 months. The state has 90 days to issue a decision.